Now Public, LaSalle Edges Back
From Past Investment Blunders

CHICAGO -- Flush with capital for the first time in years, LaSalle Partners Inc. is aiming to be a survivor in the rapidly consolidating real-estate-services business.

Thanks to an initial public offering in July, the company was able to pay off $77.4 million in debt and, it hopes, put some embarrassing missteps behind it. And as a public company, LaSalle has gotten off to an upbeat start. On Monday, it reported net income of $6.9 million for the second quarter, reversing a $645,000 loss in the year-earlier period. Revenue...